In a good way.
In our village there is a little beauty salon.
It’s not the kind of ‘local salon’ that you’d expect
(the sort with a couple of hungover teenage
therapists having a fag out the fire escape).
Nor is it the sort where you feel you need
a full face of makeup on before you dare to go in.
This one gets it so perfectly, bang-on, PERFECT.
It’s called: Touch
Not Lisa’s Lashes, or Barbara’s Beauties…
Understated, classy name.
Perfect.
You go in, it smells nice, it’s pretty,
there are lots of lovely things around.
Quiet bustle of happy customers.
Not clinical.
Not posed.
Just all hangs together in a stylish
comfortable way.
Luxurious, but welcoming.
Now, my favourite bit is the gift shop.
Trinkets and little gorgeous things
that would take me a week to track down
at the shopping centre.
Like the choosing has already been done for me
and all I have to do is pick my stuff up.
Now in truth, if I did drive 20 minutes to West Quay
(Southampton’s fresh gates of hell of
a massive, faceless shopping centre)
and then park for 20 minutes,
then dodge the mutants, and the chavs, and the drunks
and then queue,
and lose my car….
I could probably find some of the stuff Touch sells
a few quid cheaper in town.
Or do it online.
But as someone who HATES shopping,
in all it’s persuasions
I love going into Touch.
I did all my Christmas shopping there in one hit
(and got a massage).
To be honest I would be happy to just give them
my card and they just take what they wanted…
I am happy to pay for all of the thought and care
that goes into what they offer.
I value it.
I can trust the quality, they greet me with a friendly ‘Hello Tanya’
(rather than the “NEXT” you’d get in town)
The whole thing is value-for-money.
But I am not buying on price there, actually.
There are some things that I do buy
because of the price alone;
- Food Shop (a recent Lidl Convert)
- Printer Ink
- Petrol
- Electricity
- Cat Food
Those things just need to be exactly what they
say on the tin.
You don’t need your electricity delivered
with a friendly smile and free filter coffee.
Doesn’t make any difference.
Made me think about teaching our W&G sessions.
We are not the cheapest in our area, either.
We will never offer classes for a pound.
I would rather have 10 people at a class paying £8
than 80 paying £1.
How we look after 80 people?
Find out their name?
Talk to them afterwards?
Remember about their birthday, clicky knee, PND
or sore neck?
We run a class on a Wednesday night that has
all kinds of costs involved,
Yoga, Fitness, Music and music licenses.
We have blankets and eye masks people to greet you
and cool coloured lights
and incense, and a mic, and two teachers…
and it’s double length so we can fit everything in without rushing you.
We hang around to chat to people afterwards
(and don’t hurry them home)
Those are the kinds of classes we want to deliver…
You can get other classes for cheaper down the road,
but people still come to ours.
Because our people value those things,
and like I am when I buy things at Touch –
they are happy to pay, and leave lovely reviews
and bring their friends.
“How was your class tonight, dear?”
“It was really cheap and basic, I am so happy”….
…said no-one – ever
Same with FitCamp – imagine if one of the FitCampers
said to the others
“psssst – this FitCamp is far too expensive,
why don’t we all meet up at 6:30am and do some exercise?”
Can you imagine 😉
Well of course they could do that,
but then they wouldn’t have a carefully
planned programme,
and professional instruction,
and first aid,
and music,
and a loo,
and encouragement,
and someone to
make sure they were exercising safely.
And the knowledge that who ever was organising it
would ALWAYS be there.
And it would be much harder achieve their goals.
People pay for things they value
(and believe me, the ‘delivery’ part of teaching sessions
is the quickest bit, the courses and learning and promotion and practice
that goes on behind the scenes is 90% of what happens)
(Just heard an “AMEN, SISTER” from all the
fitness instructors of the UK)
Same as if I hung around outside Touch
and said to their customers as they left:
“pssst – I bought a spray tan machine,
do you want to all meet in my dining room
and I will spray you all on the cheap”
Yeah, you’d be a bit streaky and have orange
feet, and my neighbour might be perving at the window
– but it would be CHEAP, right?
You might try it once – but you’d be back to somewhere
like Touch in no time.
(And you would think that was a bit of an
underhand thing to do…)
Unless you only ever buy on price.
I go to a private dentist.
I SO can’t afford that.
But it’s my teeth….
I am a pathetic baby about dentists,
and my lovely dentist has cured that
because he can take the time, and numb my gum
and give me the latest treatment.
He can do that, because I pay him properly
so he doesn’t have to fit 6 patients into an hour.
I choose to not have nice handbags and fancy shoes
so I can have my teeth looked after properly.
So… back to the salon…
I would go every day to have a treatment
and buy another lovely thing.
If I could.
But that doesn’t mean their prices are too high.
They are not.
They are exactly right for what you get.
I just get my priorities right..
(In the same way that I bumped into a woman
at Tesco Express
buying 5 packets of Superkings,
3 womans magazines
an 8 pack of Becks –
who STILL had the cheek to tell me that her
daughters dance class payment –
already 10 weeks late
was going to have to wait a few weeks…)
Abi and her staff have totally earned my loyalty and custom,
and I trim a bit of unnecessary spending elsewhere
to make sure that I still get to visit the salon.
In the same way that people are happy to pay a couple
of quid more than some of the fitness classes down
the road from us
to come and spend Wednesday evening with us.
Life isn’t about cheap.
It’s about your time, your memories, what you value.
We thank you for valuing us –
the feeling is entirely mutual.
Have a great week –
see you Wednesday
Love Tanya x x x x
p.s. Fancy joining us on Wednesday 7:45pm in Bishy?
It’s dance fitness, and abs work, and yoga and relaxation.
Double length class (great value 😉 )
You can book it here:
>>> www.wiseandgorgeous.com <<<
p.p.s. when you go to Touch, in the gift shop at the back
there is a little box on the floor, marked NOT FOR CHILDREN.
It is definitely NOT FOR CHILDREN
It is a box of hilarious brilliance.
Go and see.
You won’t be disappointed.
That box seals the deal for me
(You’ll see why)